November 2005

Monday, November 28, 2005

I saw two movies this holiday weekend. Two vastly different movies, and yet two movies with Chris Columbus in common. Two movies that provoked very different reactions in me.

I went to see Rent with high expectations. I haven't seen the play, but I love musicals. I mean, really love musicals, especially old time musicals, like Brigadoon, Singing in the Rain, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Grease, and The Sound of Music.

Monday, November 14, 2005

For the first time in a million years, I stayed up late to watch SNL because "my boy" Jason Lee was on. I know, the skits weren't that good, but that's the writing, folks. Jason did pretty well with what he was given. Overall, I wasn't disappointed because Jason Lee is just so damn watchable to me. Since the first time I met him, on the set of A Better Place (shot in the summer of 1995), I've thought the guy is hilarious. And for ten years, I've been thinking, "when is the rest of the world going to discover this guy?"

Well, now they have. Thank god.

BTW: I also loved the Foo Fighters. Usually, I don't stay up for the second SNL musical number because I'm just not that into music and by that time of the night I'm too tired to care. But the Foo Fighters were awesome and I was happy I stayed up. The musical guest clearly saved a show that sagged under mediocre writing.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

How many of us claim we want to write novels -- SOMEDAY? If we're blogging, probably about 99 percent of us have this dream (or fantasy).

If you need a kick in the ass, you may want to participate in the annual NaNoWriMo Competition. All you have to do is commit to writing 50,000 words of a novel during the month of November and YOU'VE WON. Of course, this is easier said than done. NaNoWriMo has become really popular, but only a small percentage of participants actually meet the 50,000 goal. Because let's face it, a month is not a long time, and writing is really hard.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

After seeing Capote on Sunday, I'm convinced that Philip Seymour Hoffman is a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination. He certainly disappeared into the character, and made you forget that this was the same dude from Boogie Nights and Almost Famous. Not that I'm a huge Truman Capote officianado. I was born a year after his famous In Cold Blood was published, so I don't have a strong recollection of him. But the elderly audience who watched the film with me was all abuzz about how Hoffman did a near-perfect impression.

But amazing acting aside, that's not really what wowed me about Capote. What really wowed me is that the director, Bennett Miller, and writer, Dan Futterman, are basically rookie filmmakers. I kid you not, that Miller has less credits on IMDb than I do (apparently he's directed a ton of commercials) and this is Futterman's first script, as he is mostly an actor.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Joel Stein is all whining about not being paid for being one of the commenters on VH1's "I Love the 80's". I'm all like, "Shut-up, Punk." Because, I'd PAY VH1 to be one of their pop cultural commenters. Not only do I love the 80's, but I also love talking about the 80's and the "I Love the 80's" series.

In related news, a couple weeks ago for my birthday, the husband took me to The Stress Factory Comedy Club in New Brunswick and I shook hands with "I Love the 80's" commentator, Godfrey, who is freaking funny as hell as a stand-up comic, and really cute too.